The Dillon tribune., 1887-12-09

and Tilda herself had long ago regained
her cheerfulness. In the meantime she had
| grown quite intimate with the cook next
| door, and went with her to church Sun
! day evenings. One evening as they cllattetl
| a minute in the area, Mrs. Loring noticed
a mans voice, and wondering II Nicholas
had returned, looked out as he walked
| away Ut was bright nloonlight); but II
was much smaller man. She heard the
same voice once or twice again, but gave
the matter no thought, supposing, 40 fal
as it had place in her mind ut all, that the
man was the next door girls friend. But
one evening he came in, and she could
hear his voice as he went around to the
back door. 1t was peculiarly rasping and
harsh, and ~ the house happened to be
otherwise unusually quiet, she could dis.
tinctly hear it in tho distance from the
kitchen for an hour before he finally took
his leave. She had by this time grown
quite attached to Tilda, and she instinc-
lively feared trouble. :'I'll wait and see, "
she said. She was accordingly somewhat
on the alert, and at the end of two weeks
was sure that he had spent three evenings
with Tilda. So she determined on an in
terview. As before, she waited until
Tilda was at leisure and alone, and then
WCuC " uC1, NTlIJCll 1OI war; UuU wary
"fOu have had several visits from a
new friend lately, Tilda,'' she said, with
a pleasant smile; lis he relation:''
Tilda looked conscious, and crimped her
apron hem uncomfortably. It was q mo
ment before she spoke: ''Das been yoong
man com sometime hare, but dey's good
man; dey's all time to de shursh.''
AS the Swedish church was notorio,,sly
fh9a nnea common ,,1uco nf vY,oofiny nf MI
the young working people of that nation
in the city, Mrs. Loring had her doubts
as to the singleness of motive which in-
fluenced the young mans devotion to the
sanctuary; hut she kept this question of
casuistry to herself, and also withheld
any comment upon Tilda's ignoring of
her question as to relationship, and aimed
directly ut the point of what she came to
say.
~ have no fault to find with the young
man, Tilda, but was thinking of that
nice lover Of yours in Sweden. You
mustn't forget him.
Tilda laughed. ''Oh, tlas all right.
Mcesis Lo'ing," she said ''yoong gels
must hev sometime lettle foon. He'll
trus' me''-with u little head toss. "Das
all right
Mrs. Loring looked and felt doubtful,
but she remembered the many girls in her
own circle who also had "a lettle foon,"
and feeling, like the Vicar of Wakefield,
''tired of being always wisc," threw out
some word Of general caution and retired
from the field.
Again the weeks ran ON, bringing such
sequel as we may have guessed. Mr..
Nielsen, as Tiltla's new friend was named,
could not have been a very amusing per-
son, for it took more and more frequent
visits, until finally he came nightly, to
afford her the ''lettlc foon' which she
claimed as her right. Mrs. Loring ex-
postulatcd until Tilda became sullen, and
then, making up her mind that the matter
was out of her province, dropped it, short
ly after which Tilda ''gavc warning
''You arc going to he married, Tilla:''
Mrs. Loring said
Tilda's face hardened, and she stood
silent.
Mrs. Loring continued, II have no right
to your confidence, Tilda, if you do not
choose to give it; but you have been with
me a good while, and l am attached to
you, and am SO anxious that you should
do what is right last words with
manner so winning that it broke Tilda
down.
she sobbed. ''Neckl,,s hev been gone
longer time, an dcys fader donnotty get
tin veil an don,lotty die, an kenenty
always WYATT for man wut kerc more for
deys fadcr an moder n .ley kere for me-"
Mrs. Loring was silent, and seeing alb
solutely no soil in which to SOW her store
of good seed, remained so, rejecting, as
she retrcated, upon the difficulty of graft
ing one PERSONS actions upon another's
motives.
So Tilda left at the expiration Of her
month. and soon after was married,
Mrs. Loring employed another cook, and
Tilda slid into the past
1t WAS the new cooks 3'evening out,''
about Il month after I'ilda's marriage.
Mrs. I4oring was reading in the library.
when Il loud knocking reused her TO a
sense that u gentlcr one had preceded it.
1t seemed to he ut the kitchen door, and
she went herself to open it, At first SHE
did not recognize the man whom she
found standing there, but in an instant it
came 10 her that il was lilla's old
lover. and in that same instant she re-
allied with gathering Indignation that
Til,la, with the coWartiicc characteristic
of weak and ignorant nature, had
shirkc,l the hard duty Of confessing her
fai,hlessress and had left the result to
distance and chance. What should she
'!": All this while she pleasantly well
coined him back to America. and asked
him in. His honest face, which had aged
more than was natural in year and u
half, betrayed the disappointment he felt
when Mrs. I.oring, and not Ti!da. opened
the door.
''Ecs Tiita gone out:' he asked.
''l>s',' she answered: ''that isl dong
ing /" gain q little ti,nel ''she left me
over :; month ago Here she paused.
and the pity that was in her heart crept
into her face. and Nicholas perceived it.